Total War: Warhammer III Daemon Prince guide – The basics
Let’s talk about some of the basic info regarding the Daemon Prince in Total War: Warhammer III. These are the key facets you’ll consider when you’re just starting out.
Faction and lord bonuses
The Daemon Prince in Total War: Warhammer III has the following bonuses and mechanics:
- Daemonic Glory – Can dedicate victories and settlements to various gods, as well as follow the Chaos Undivided path. Gains access to all daemon units in the game.
- Daemonic Gifts – Unlock and equip different weapons and armor pieces.
- Chaos God Mechanics – You can use certain mechanics from Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch.
- Reign of Chaos – Dealing damage with friendly lords allows you to use powerful spells.
Starting units and map location
The Daemon Prince starts in the province of Ice Tooth Mountains. Here are the initial units:
- 1x Bloodletters of Khorne
- 2x Nurglings
- 1x Marauders of Slaanesh
- 2x Blue Horrors of Tzeentch
- 1x Pink Horrors of Tzeentch
- 1x Seekers of Slaanesh
- 1x Plague Drones of Nurgle
- 1x Chaos Warhounds
Daemonic Glory and buildings
After taking out the weak Nordland army, you’ll notice that you can sacrifice captives to any of the four Chaos Gods, as well as choose the Chaos Undivided path. Next, when you capture the settlement of Doomkeep (which will be your capital), you’ll see that the land can be dedicated to those options, too.
We’ll discuss Daemonic Glory in detail much later. But, sufficed to say, your choices here will dictate (a) the types of buildings that can be constructed, (b) the units that can be recruited, and (c) the heroes that will join your ranks.
Note: Because Glory gains replace post-battle options, other sources of casualty replenishment are a lot more important for the Daemon Prince.
Here’s what you can expect from most settlements that you conquer:
- Main building – Adds income, defensive supplies (to construct defenses during sieges), growth, and corruption (depending on the god). This also unlocks the recruitment of Chaos Furies and another basic unit (i.e., Chaos Warhounds for Khorne, Blue Horrors for Tzeentch, Nurglings for Nurgle, and Marauders for Slaanesh). The province’s main settlement also has a chance of removing debilitating effects of the Warp (i.e., debuffs if you’ve spent too much time in a Realm of Chaos).
- Basic Army – Has one building chain with regular units (i.e., Bloodletters, Pink Horrors, Plaguebearers, and Daemonettes, as well as their Exalted variants). The higher-tier building will also increase hero capacity.
- Advanced Military – Two building chains for cavalry, monsters, and other high-tier units. These also provide Glory.
- Defense – One building to help when besieged, while the other has a chance of removing a negative trait from the Realms of Chaos.
- Infrastructure – There are four building chains here:
- Increased growth and reduced recruitment costs.
- Increased income.
- Increased casualty replenishment rate, Glory, and corruption (these two are dependent on the god that the settlement was dedicated to). It also provides income if you increase control (i.e., public order) past 50.
- Increased control and adds garrison units.
Daemon Prince skills
The Daemon Prince in Total War: Warhammer III has five rows of skills, one for each Chaos God and another for Chaos Undivided. Here’s the gist:
- Chaos God-specific perks will only provide Glory gains, corruption, upkeep reduction, and unit buffs for that deity, but there are also some overarching benefits. Meanwhile, the Chaos Undivided row is for general buffs.
- Chaos Undivided – Growth, control, diplomatic relations (Warriors of Chaos, Daemons of Chaos, Norsca, and Beastmen), Lightning Strike, and talents that reduce upkeep costs for each deity’s units.
- Khorne – Income from raiding, income from sacking, and experience gain/leadership aura.
- Nurgle – Attrition reduction, casualty replenishment, and wound recovery time.
- Slaanesh – Recruitment cost, hero action success chance, and ambush success chance.
- Tzeentch – Reinforcement marker move cost reduction, Winds of Magic boosts, and diplomatic relations with all factions.
Note 1: Personally, I suggest going with a mix of Chaos Undivided perks and Nurgle (the attrition reduction and casualty replenishment become absolute necessities in Realms of Chaos).
Note 2: Each Chaos God’s row also has perks that improve the RNG chances of Reign of Chaos magic spells (more on these later).
Heroes, lords, and equippable stuff
To clarify, after you dedicate your first captured settlement, there’s a mission that requires you to recruit two units. The reward for this is a hero from that deity (i.e., Alluress for Slaanesh, Bloodreaper for Khorne, and the like). Later, you’ll also notice events that give heroes automatically. I’m guessing that the hidden trigger is being able to dedicate province capitals to X god, but I can’t confirm that yet.
Dozens of turns later, you should be able to field a second army led by generic heralds. You’re eventually presented a choice on what to do with them. They could retain their original form as heralds, or they can ascend and become an even more terrifying entity (i.e., the Herald of Tzeentch turning into an Exalted Lord of Change). This will, however, halve their level (i.e., a level 16 Herald of Slaanesh becoming a level 8 Exalted Keeper of Secrets), though you can freely assign the remaining points.
Note: The Daemon Prince can only equip items from the Daemonic Glory mechanic. As such, he can’t use regular weapons, talismans, followers, and the like. These are instead equipped by your generic lords or heroes since they still have the usual panel/screen.
Diplomacy and progression
You’re a Daemon of Chaos, which means you’re automatically at war with all Order-aligned races. At the start, you’ll mostly deal with Skaeling (Norscans who also hate your guts). Later, Nordland and Laurelorn Forest might sail across the sea to invade your lands. Further onward, Kostaltyn of Kislev will march into your territories as well.
For allies, you’d go with the Bjornlings and Graelings. Eventually, relations should improve, allowing you to recruit Norscan units by way of outpost construction. It’s also possible to buddy up with the other daemonic lords, such as Skarbrand, N’kari, Ku’gath, and Kairos, once you meet them. If you want, you can construct outposts, too. Although you can still field their units, it helps to have an extra recruitment slot or a means of grabbing a type of unit even without meeting the Glory requirement.
For the rest of the campaign, you’d simply advance to cap the rest of the Ice Tooth Mountains. Then, move east to lay waste to the settlements in Trollheim Mountains (you’ll probably beat up Kostaltyn a few times). The Bjornlings and Graelings should take care of your northern flank. Just watch out for Nordland, Laurelorn, and Rogue Armies that will ransack your coastal regions. Make sure these areas are well-defended, and try not to over-extended your forces (i.e., no more than a couple of provinces) so you can easily counter Chaos Rift spawns.
In any case, let’s take a look at the ideal army composition and Reign of Chaos magic spells that you’ll have access to in the next part of our Total War: Warhammer III Daemon Prince guide.
